Chapter 224 - 223: Family Extermination
In the secret chamber.
The smell of blood was so thick it was almost tangible.
Liu Yuanqi stood frozen to the spot.
The six Spirit Realm Honored Guests in his family, including one expert at the Spirit Realm Third Level and two at the Second Level, had been effortlessly slaughtered.
A chill shot up from the soles of Liu Yuanqi’s feet to the crown of his head, instantly coursing through his entire body.
’A Grandmaster!’
’Only a Grandmaster could possess such overwhelming power!’
He forcibly suppressed the storm raging in his heart, took a deep breath, and strained to squeeze out a respectful expression as he bowed to the staff-wielding Chen Li.
"Senior! This is a misunderstanding!"
Liu Yuanqi’s voice trembled slightly. "What happened today is entirely the Liu Family’s fault. I was blind and offended you, Senior."
"But please, Senior, understand that all of this... was instigated by my worthless cousin, Liu Yunfeng. I truly had no intention of opposing you."
’He knew very well he couldn’t escape.’
’With my strength at the Spirit Realm First Level, I wouldn’t last a single move against him.’
’The only thing to do now is to placate him.’
’After all, there’s no life-or-death feud between our families.’
"Liu Yunfeng?"
Chen Li raised an eyebrow, his tone flat, betraying no emotion.
Seeing Chen Li respond, Liu Yuanqi felt a glimmer of relief and quickly elaborated, "Yes, that’s him. He’s the son of my Second Uncle, Liu Gongchang—my cousin. When your family bought land on Mirror Mountain, that villain was the one causing trouble. He begged me to create some business difficulties for your family."
"I... I was bewitched at the time, deceived by that scoundrel. That’s how... that’s how I made this grave mistake. Please forgive me, Senior!"
He wished he could skin Liu Yunfeng alive right now. "If I had known your identity, Senior, I wouldn’t have dared show the slightest disrespect, not even if I had ten thousand times the courage."
"If you are still not satisfied, Senior, I will send men to bind Liu Yunfeng and bring him here. Whether you want to kill him or torture him is entirely up to you. I only ask that you quell your anger!"
A faint, unreadable smile touched Chen Li’s lips. "Send men to bind him? Or send men to fetch his father, the commander of a thousand households, to come along with him?"
Liu Yuanqi’s heart sank.
’He knows so much about my Liu Family.’
’What’s more troublesome is that he’s not just incredibly powerful, but also sharp-witted. He saw right through my ploy.’
"I would never dare."
Liu Yuanqi quickly denied it, a cold sweat breaking out on his back. He scrambled to recover. "Senior, a thousand wrongs, ten thousand wrongs, it’s all the Liu Family’s fault. As long as you are merciful, the Liu Family is willing to do everything in our power to provide any compensation."
"I will immediately order all of our family’s Textile Workshops to purchase all of your family’s cocoons at thirty percent above market price—no, fifty percent!"
"Furthermore, I am willing to offer fifty thousand taels of silver—no, one hundred thousand taels of silver—as a gift of apology. I only beg you to give the Liu Family a chance to make amends."
"Compensation?"
Chen Li watched him coldly, then suddenly chuckled. "Then what if I want the Liu Family’s Official Tribute Contract with the Textile Bureau? Are you willing to give me that?"
Liu Yuanqi’s pupils constricted. "Senior, you may not know this, but it’s not that my Liu Family is unwilling. It’s just... this Official Tribute Contract, it’s not like a common Salt Token. It’s not our private property to be transferred at will. The Textile Bureau must approve any change of ownership."
"Oh?"
Chen Li asked, "By that logic, when you snatched the tribute contract from the Zhou Family, did you have the Textile Bureau’s approval?"
Hearing this, a storm of shock raged through Liu Yuanqi’s mind.
’Even I only know bits and pieces about the Liu Family’s involvement with the Zhou Family. How does he know such a secret?’
He forced himself to remain calm and said in a low voice, "This matter... involves secrets of the officialdom. My branch of the family has no foundation in the court, so I truly don’t know the inside details."
"Since you don’t know, then let’s end it here."
Chen Li watched him quietly. ’I probably can’t get any more valuable information from this man.’
Alarmed, Liu Yuanqi frantically circulated his Inner Qi, preparing to make a desperate move and use a Body Technique to escape.
But how could he possibly escape?
Chen Li casually flicked the Qiankun Ruyi Staff in his hand forward.
All of Liu Yuanqi’s movements froze instantly. His eyes filled with terror, unwillingness, and deep bewilderment.
He looked as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, his body fell backward, stiff as a board, and crashed heavily onto the stone floor. His eyes were wide open, unable to rest in peace.
Chen Li stood with his hands behind his back, the Qiankun Ruyi Staff vanishing without a sound.
His gaze shifted to the corner, where Liu Yuanzhao’s family and Liu Ruoyi were restrained.
Liu Yuanzhao suppressed his terror and quickly spoke, "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior."
"Speak. Why have the other three branches of the Liu Family gone to such lengths to keep your Eldest Branch alive, monitoring and holding you under house arrest?"
Chen Li did not release the pressure on their acupoints.
Liu Yuanzhao was stunned, a look of conflict and bitterness flashing across his face.
After a moment of silence, he said, "You see everything, Senior. I dare not hide anything. The three other branches have been plotting for so long because they covet our Liu Family’s ancestral Divine Secret Skill, the Vein-Severing Soul-Breaking Finger."
"The Vein-Severing Soul-Breaking Finger?"
Chen Li’s eyebrow twitched, a hint of surprise on his face.
It was the first time he had ever heard of a Divine Secret Skill.
Seeing Chen Li’s interest, Liu Yuanzhao continued to explain, "You may not know, Senior, but my Liu Family’s ancestor made his name renowned throughout the Jianghu with this very Vein-Severing Soul-Breaking Finger."
"This finger technique is incomparably profound. It’s said that upon reaching Great Success, the Finger Force can penetrate acupoints, sever meridians, and seal the Divine Soul. Even Grandmasters are extremely wary of it."
He paused, his tone carrying a trace of pride, but more so, melancholy. "Ordinary acupoint stimulation techniques are effective against those in the Qi Realm, and even those who have just entered the Spirit Realm."
"But once a Martial Artist reaches the Spirit Realm’s Profound Acupoint Pass, opens all the Acupoints in their body, and their Inner Qi forms its own cycle, acupoint stimulation techniques become ineffective."
"Even if one acupoint is sealed, the Inner Qi stored in the other Acupoints will continuously surge against it and quickly break the restraint."
"But my Liu Family’s Vein-Severing Soul-Breaking Finger is a Secret Skill derived from cultivating a Divine Secret Skill. It can bypass Inner Qi defenses and directly affect one’s foundational core and even their Divine Soul consciousness."
"This Divine Secret Skill has always been passed down orally from master to disciple within the direct line of the Eldest Branch. The other branches have no knowledge of its Cultivation Technique. Unfortunately, this Secret Skill is incredibly difficult to cultivate, with extremely high requirements for talent and temperament."
"Since our great-great-grandfather, no descendant of the Liu Family has been able to truly master that Divine Secret Skill. Due to the long passage of time and successive periods of turmoil, by my father’s generation, the Divine Secret Skill was already lost."
He gave a bitter, helpless laugh. "But the other three branches don’t believe it. Or rather, they refuse to believe the Secret Skill is lost. They’ve always thought our Eldest Branch was hiding it for ourselves, which is why they’ve been watching us, trying to find out where it is."
Chen Li walked over to Liu Yuanzhao, extended his right index finger, and transferred a stream of pure, gentle Inner Qi into him.
As the Inner Qi entered his body, Chen Li immediately sensed that several key acupoints in Liu Yuanzhao’s meridians were blocked by a strange force.
This blockage wasn’t caused by crude damage from Inner Qi.
Instead, it was more like a clever severing that obstructed the flow of Inner Qi without causing any actual harm.
The technique was truly exquisite.
It was the first time Chen Li had seen an acupoint stimulation technique since coming to this world, and he couldn’t help but marvel at it.
As his pure Inner Qi surged in, the cleverly severed blockages quickly dissolved and cleared.
Liu Yuanzhao felt his body lighten as his immobilized form was instantly freed.
"Thank you, Senior!"
Overjoyed, Liu Yuanzhao struggled out of his leather bindings and stretched his limbs.
He then immediately untied the bonds and released the sealed acupoints of his wife, children, and Liu Ruoyi.
Liu Yuanzhao bowed again, saying sincerely, "I will never forget your kindness in saving our lives, Senior."
But Chen Li just sneered. "Did I say I was saving you?"
The gratitude on Liu Yuanzhao’s face froze, replaced by shock and confusion. "Senior... what... what do you mean?"
Liu Ruoyi and the others also tensed up in an instant, their brief moment of relief vanishing as their hearts leaped into their throats.
Chen Li sneered. "Plenty of people in Qingshui County know you. It wasn’t exactly a top secret that Liu Yuanqi captured you. Now, everyone in the Liu Family here is dead, yet you walk out unscathed. What do you think the Jingwu Bureau will conclude when they investigate? Do you think they’ll believe you knew nothing about this?"
He paused, his eyes fixed on Liu Yuanzhao. "And how can I be sure you won’t reveal everything that happened here today?"
Liu Ruoyi’s face went pale. She rushed forward. "Senior, we can swear we won’t breathe a word of what happened today. Please, for... for Third Grandpa’s sake, let us go."
Liu Yuanzhao took a deep breath. He knew Chen Li wasn’t wrong. "Please, Senior, show me the way. As long as I can save the lives of my wife, children, and younger sister, I... will do as you command."
Chen Li’s expression was indifferent. His gaze drifted to the courtyard outside the secret chamber. "Outside, in the Liu Family residence, there are still many people. You’re a smart man. You should know what to do."
Liu Yuanzhao’s face changed dramatically. His body trembled as he instantly understood Chen Li’s meaning.
His gaze swept over his wife behind him, his two young children who seemed to vaguely sense the terror and were huddled together, and his sister, whose eyes were filled with tears as she bit her lip.
"I only ask that you spare my wife and my little sister."
Finally, he gritted his teeth, a look of grim resolve in his eyes.
Seeing Chen Li nod, he bent down and picked up a blood-stained steel knife from the floor.
Without further hesitation, he gripped the hilt and walked out of the blood-filled secret chamber.
...
「The next morning, at the break of dawn.」
Early risers near the Liu Family residence caught a sickeningly thick, bloody stench drifting on the air.
Someone dared to approach, only to find the vermilion main gate shut tight and the courtyard eerily silent. Terrified, they scrambled to report it to the authorities.
Government constables from the County Magistrate’s Office arrived quickly. After knocking for a long time with no answer, they worked together to break down the main gate.
The scene that greeted them terrified even these worldly-wise government constables out of their wits.
In the courtyard, under the verandas, in the main hall... bodies were strewn everywhere, their blood staining the flagstones red.
Not a single person in the entire Liu Family household had survived.
The entire residence had become a tomb.
"Quick! Go report to the County Magistrate! Something terrible has happened!"
The Chief Constable roared, his voice trembling.
The Qingshui County Magistrate, the County Captain, and a host of other officials rushed to the scene upon hearing the news.
When they witnessed the scene of the massacre with their own eyes, they all turned pale, breaking out in a cold sweat.
The Liu Family was one of the most prominent Noble Families in all of Jiangzhou.
Who had such audacity, and such power, to slaughter the entire Liu household?
"This... this matter is no small affair!"
The County Captain wiped the cold sweat from his brow. "Your Honor, this is beyond the capabilities of our County Magistrate’s Office. Should we immediately... report it to the Jingwu Bureau?"
"Wait!"
But the Qingshui County Magistrate stopped him. "First, find the Liu Family’s liquid assets."
The County Captain was stunned.